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They also need massive amounts of water when planted at scale and die after anything between 1-100 years (some hardwood trees live longer but capture carbon rel
by WJW 6y ago
They also need massive amounts of water when planted at scale and die after anything between 1-100 years (some hardwood trees live longer but capture carbon relatively slowly compared to faster growing plants), after which they release the carbon back into the ecosystem. Energy efficiency of photosynthesis is also really low.
Just planting a lot of plants and expecting they will efficiently capture a lot of carbon out of the air is going to lead to disappointment.
- YetAnotherNick 6y agoWe could create mechanical replacement which works with sea water and doesn't require us to wait for a decade to get result and likely more optimized for just one task.
- WJW 6y agoAren't technological plant replacements usually just called solar panels?
- YetAnotherNick 6y agoI was talking about carbon capture using sunlight.
- rini17 6y agoThat's very shallow dismissal. Yes, it's true "just planting a lot of plants" will lead to disappointment. But it's the same as with "just build lots of solar panels/windmills" without any systematic thinking. Natural and sustainably managed biomes don't require irrigation. I know, there are deserts where much biomass won't ever naturally grow, but no solution is suitable everywhere. Trees can and do last longer than 100 years, and even after death they don't puff release co2 immediately. When left undisturbed, large part of carbon is left fixed in the soil.